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Innocent man set free after 8 years
By Li Xinran |
January 10, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A MAN who spent eight years in prison after being convicted of raping and killing his niece was declared innocent yesterday in Henan Province.
After exonerating defendant Zhang Shaoyou, the Henan Higher People's Court upheld a lower-court ruling that sentenced a former neighbor to death for the crime, the Wuhan Evening News reported.
Zhang had been in custody ever since his niece Zhang Fen was raped and killed in 1999. He was sentenced to death in 2002 by the Zhoukou Intermediate People's Court.
Zhang Shaoyou shared a yard with his niece, whose body was found in a well in Henan's Zhoukou City after she had been missing for more than a month.
Zhang Fen, 22, a general practitioner, was last seen on December 2, 1999. Police later confirmed the woman was killed in her bedroom and dumped in the nearby well.
Zhang Fen's key ring and 300 yuan (US$43.50) were also gone.
Zhang Shaoyou became the only suspect as evidence indicated that another possible culprit, Hu Xiaogang, who also shared the same yard as Zhang Fen, didn't have time to commit the crime.
But Zhang Shaoyou's sentence was later commuted to a death penalty with a two-year reprieve as the Henan higher court said the case suffered from undisclosed problems.
On March 10, 2008, Zhang's family received information that Hu was the murderer, the report said.
Hu and his family moved to Xinjiang four days after Zheng Fen's body was found.
Henan police seized Hu on April 23. He confessed that he stole Zhang Fen's money and key ring after seeing her for medical treatment. He raped and killed her when he tried to return the key ring to her bedroom as she woke up, the report said.
The court terminated Zhang Shaoyou's sentence on May 22 and began to review the new facts, the report said. Zhang was granted bail a week later.
Hu later retracted his confession and claimed Zheng Fen was killed by someone else and he only helped to hide the body. But Hu could produce no evidence to support the claim and was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the Zhoukou Intermediate People's Court on October 28.
Zhang Shaoyou has hired a lawyer to seek state compensation, the report said.
After exonerating defendant Zhang Shaoyou, the Henan Higher People's Court upheld a lower-court ruling that sentenced a former neighbor to death for the crime, the Wuhan Evening News reported.
Zhang had been in custody ever since his niece Zhang Fen was raped and killed in 1999. He was sentenced to death in 2002 by the Zhoukou Intermediate People's Court.
Zhang Shaoyou shared a yard with his niece, whose body was found in a well in Henan's Zhoukou City after she had been missing for more than a month.
Zhang Fen, 22, a general practitioner, was last seen on December 2, 1999. Police later confirmed the woman was killed in her bedroom and dumped in the nearby well.
Zhang Fen's key ring and 300 yuan (US$43.50) were also gone.
Zhang Shaoyou became the only suspect as evidence indicated that another possible culprit, Hu Xiaogang, who also shared the same yard as Zhang Fen, didn't have time to commit the crime.
But Zhang Shaoyou's sentence was later commuted to a death penalty with a two-year reprieve as the Henan higher court said the case suffered from undisclosed problems.
On March 10, 2008, Zhang's family received information that Hu was the murderer, the report said.
Hu and his family moved to Xinjiang four days after Zheng Fen's body was found.
Henan police seized Hu on April 23. He confessed that he stole Zhang Fen's money and key ring after seeing her for medical treatment. He raped and killed her when he tried to return the key ring to her bedroom as she woke up, the report said.
The court terminated Zhang Shaoyou's sentence on May 22 and began to review the new facts, the report said. Zhang was granted bail a week later.
Hu later retracted his confession and claimed Zheng Fen was killed by someone else and he only helped to hide the body. But Hu could produce no evidence to support the claim and was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the Zhoukou Intermediate People's Court on October 28.
Zhang Shaoyou has hired a lawyer to seek state compensation, the report said.
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